Springtime and Passover in NYC

Carl Schurz Park, Yorkville, New York City, tulips above and walkway below.

Every year we gather in New York City for Passover. My parents host our Seder, and we all take turns reading from a haggadah that has more English than Hebrew. Our mixed-faith family is also multinational: American, British, Japanese, Italian Canadian and Mexican American. Only a few of us went to Hebrew School, but we all mumble along with enthusiasm, especially in the Dayenu chorus. The week-long holiday celebrates the Jews' escape from slavery in Egypt. In remembrance, we eat matzah, unleavened bread (English spelling of Hebrew varies). On the run in the desert, there was no time for the dough to rise. All the food is symbolic.

Passover is always in springtime, but the timing shifts due to the Hebrew lunar calendar. In my neighborhood park, the cherry trees were in peak bloom. My husband and our kids had to return for school, but I stayed a couple extra days to catch up with friends and art.

There's a wonderful Munch exhibit at the Neue Gallery, including his pastel Scream. Afterwards my parents treated me to a Viennese lunch at Cafe Sabarsky (above). The museum and cafe are inside a gorgeous 5th Avenue mansion overlooking Central Park.

Meanwhile back in Maine, my husband texted me this photo of our backyard. My flight back home Tuesday was cancelled due to the snowstorm! This was unusual for late April, even in Maine.

Given an extra day, I enjoyed a leisurely walk in Central Park.

For gym class in high school, I used to jog around the reservoir with my friend Cathy, who now runs Main Point Books in Pennsylvania. Another friend of ours is a librarian at a Harlem high school. We love talking books, and they use my recommendations to restock their shelves. My librarian friend was especially grateful for my Gay YA Romances post, since those are the books that go missing. Her students love romances and dystopia so I promised to keep an eye out for diverse YA in those genres.

For my last lunch, I had matzah ball soup at The Mansion, our local diner which has been there longer than my parents can remember. On the windows were both Passover and Easter decorations. I felt right at home.

Now back in Maine, I found my forsythia blooming over melting snow. Locals call spring snow "poor man's fertilizer." This transplanted New Yorker is feeling inspired.

A Tour of Winslow Homer's Studio in Maine

The Portland Museum of Art recently acquired Winslow Homer's studio in Maine and restored the house to its near original state. It was first a carriage house on Homer's family estate before he renovated to be his live-in-studio. I had imagined this late 19th century painter residing on the remote coast, but even back then, Prouts Neck was a summer resort for city people.

Homer spent the winter in his New York City studio, but a natural recluse, he preferred the isolation of Maine. His studio home was fenced without a gate, and there were no windows facing the road since he didn't want the public peering in or visiting him. Winslow Homer makes me look like an extrovert.

This is his studio from the inside. The few windows faced away from the street. We wondered why he didn't install opaque glass on the roadside walls as it was quite dark inside. My daughter and I went on a museum tour of his studio in December before it was shut for the winter. It will reopen in April, but you can only visit on a museum tour.

The main living area was rustically cozy but not exactly inviting. Over the fireplace is a sign that he hung on his outer fence, warning intruders of snakes and mice! On the walls are photos and objects that he collected on his journeys. There were odd notes of his carved into the wood panels.

His original bedroom has now been converted into a tiny kitchen.

The new bathroom is much more luxurious than it would have been during his tenure.

Upstairs is his original attic studio, which later became his bedroom when he added that nearly windowless studio downstairs. The attic was quite dark too.

Our tour guide believed that a boat builder might have done the original work on the carriage house conversion. Doesn't the ceiling remind you of being inside a tall ship?

My favorite architectural element was the covered porch overlooking the ocean. It would be easier to paint stormy seas under this protection.

I was amused to see that Winslow Homer edited out neighboring houses and suburban development. I often remove houses and roads or shift trees in my paintings too.

Even on a foggy winter day, the porch view was superb. I recognized the rocky coast that I'd seen in his paintings. On a nice day, you can walk along the cliff path. It was closed during our visit due to freezing rain. My 16-year-old daughter and I highly recommend the tour. Our guide was entertaining and well informed. The bus leaves from the museum in Portland. You should reserve tickets in advance.

From this studio visit, I've gained a new perspective of an artist who inspires both my art and my writing. A character in my work in process is named after Winslow Homer and there is an art studio modeled after his. Homer's coastal landscapes inspired my photo essay of islands in snow and my watercolors too.

Weather Watch: Another big storm is coming tomorrow with 8-12 inches of snow predicted! I'm hoping for snow only and no rain/sleet. It's hard to imagine on this sunny day. Happy Winter!

Nervous Nellie's on Deer Isle, Maine

On sunny days of summer and early fall,
I’m painting on the coast,
but grey days are writing and blog days.

Not that my blog is grey today
thanks to a bright red bird
called Nellie.

My teenaged son and I
visited her tearoom and gardens
this time last August.

How can I describe Nervous Nellie’s?
Even the owner isn’t sure:

“I always feel stymied when I try to describe Nervous Nellie’s: a cottage industry that is actually in a cottage? A quirky living museum of island life and culture? A folk art sculpture garden that feels magical, hilarious and poignant all at once? A colorful shop of handmade goods and a tea room with homemade goodies? A sandbox with great toys? A dog that smiles?”

Whatever it is, Nervous Nellie’s is well worth the 3-hour drive from Portland, Maine. From the Blue Hill area, you cross a suspension bridge to Little Deer Isle and onto a narrow causeway to Deer Isle. Then you tell your learner’s permit son NOT to pull over into the sea when an ambulance approaches from behind with sirens blaring. Step on the gas!

Nervous Nellie’s was just
the place to unwind.

Artist Peter Beerits forms
his life-size creations
out of found
and donated objects,
mostly junk.

My son noticed that
this whimsical creature
was born from
the guts of
a baby grand piano.

In the woods, we found the junk court of King Arthur . . . and some other folks:

Nervous Nellie’s isn’t so much a sculpture garden but a sculpture town. 

We stepped inside Red’s Lounge . . .

To hear some blues.

Then we shared a quiet morning
from another time.

After a real tea with Nellie,
we went back
to my friend's cottage
with jars of jam
in a lobster fisherman’s bait bag.
My favorite was Blackberry Peach Conserves.

It tasted like sunshine.

Book to read on Deer Isle:

My favorite Sarah Dessen novel, 

The Truth About Forever, 

revolves around a teenaged boy

who makes sculptures out of junk. 

His girlfriend has a summer job catering. 

Wes and Macy would love Nervous Nellie’s too.

Next Post: Wednesday August 31st 

It's time for another mom-son vacation

before school resumes (yikes!)

Art of Americas Wing, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (new exhibit)

The Art of the Americas Wing just opened at the MFA at the end of last year. Housed on 4 levels in thematic rooms, the extensive collection reaches back to Ancient American through Colonial up to 1970’s modern art. 

The paintings are hung with antique furniture, lamps, imported tiles, stained glass and silverware. Even the wallpaper matches the period. There’s a sense of walking back in time that brings the old art to life.

My 13-year-old daughter enjoyed the exhibit as I did. There were plenty of (non-exhibit) benches to sit upon and soak up the atmosphere or write stories, as she did, inspired by art. We especially loved the Sargents, and how the giant urns featured in a painting of an American expat family in Paris were displayed on either side of the painting (below).

The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit by John Singer Sargent, oil on canvas, 1882, MFA website.

The new wing's architecture (below) was really good too, but be careful not to miss the side galleries off the main column or the native/colonial displays in the basement. I liked how the gallery was historically stacked from oldest up to newest. The addition integrates well with the old museum. Afterward, we had a good but pricey lunch in the glass-enclosed MFA courtyard by the gallery. There was a line, but it moved quickly.  The soup and salad were delicious, and it was pleasantly sunny and bright on a cold day.

Art of America's Wing designed by Foster & Partners of London, opened on 11/ 30/10, MFA website image.

It was definitely worth the drive down from Maine to see this marvelous collection. The parking lot can fill so take the Green-E Line T (subway) from central Boston to the "Museum of Fine Arts" stop. I'd also strongly recommend the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, in walking distance from the MFA. The Gardner is currently under renovation but you can still see parts of it.

Harvard Square: glass flowers, indie bookstores, ethnic food, ice cream and warm memories

I know Maine is called “Vacation Land,” but I need a city fix to unwind. Nature can be too harsh. In late February my coastal paradise was glazed in ice and buried under two feet of melting snow. (It still is.) Harvard Square is only two and a half hours south . . . well, six hours if it’s stormy on the way back.

It was still worth a return to my old home. After growing up in NYC, I went to college and graduate school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. My husband and I met at Harvard (left), and our two kids were born in Boston. Our teenaged daughter must have inherited my urban genes because she loved our trip to Harvard Square. Her brother stayed back to compete in the Maine State Championship in Nordic Skiing, and her sad dad had to work. It was a girls-only vacation.

We stayed at the Charles Hotel. Our room overlooked Harvard University and the Boston skyline. Henrietta’s Table served the best Belgian waffles and fresh tropical fruit. There’s a glass-encased lap pool and an outdoor skating rink in this luxurious hotel. We were well pampered, but we didn’t spend too much time in our comfortable room.

The Harvard Museum of Natural History has the most amazing exhibit of glass flowers (above.)  They were made in 1887-1936 by a father and son team in Germany and have been used ever since to teach botany. My daughter, who inherited my glass animal collection, could not believe the flowers were not real. We also loved the gorgeous gemstone exhibit. I got nostalgic walking around campus, but my daughter is too young to be thinking much about college yet. If you ask her, she'll say she wants to go to Oxford University in England after our sabbatical there. Oxford was also her dad's alma mater.

Catering to many international students, Harvard Square has a broad selection of affordable ethnic food. We had lunch at Chutneys (right) in The Garage Shopping Center. A nanini (nan bread+panini+curry+rice) is the best idea ever! The paratha wrap was tasty too. Our meals with samosas and a fresh mango lassi came to less than $10/person. It was not so much fast food as good food fast.

My beloved Herrell's had just shut, but a friend recommended Lizzy's and JP Licks for homemade ice cream. Steve Herrell founded Steve's ice cream in 1973 and sold his first name chain. He then reopened under his last name on a smaller scale. Both local chains still exist but not in Harvard Square. My daughter liked JP Licks, but it wasn't the same as sitting inside an old bank valt painted like a fish tank while spooning salty-sweet malted vanilla ice cream with Heath Bar - Reese's smoosh-ins, laughing with a friend. That was the flavor of college for me.

For dinner we had delicious Korean and Japanese food at Shabu Ya (above), the former Shilla. Their specialty is Shabu Shabu, a one-pot meal of thinly cut beef and vegetables that you cook in a savory broth at your table. It was a good sign that most of the clients were Asian. Another good sign: my husband and I have been dining there for over two decades. Two locations ago, Henry first met my parents for dinner there. My parents also met and fell in love in Cambridge 50-something years ago. It's a special place for me.

A friend treated my daughter and me to tea at Café Algiers (left), another old college haunt of mine. At the table beside us, two women were chatting in French. Sipping fresh mint tea and nibbling baklava, we felt transported to Algeria. It has the best atmosphere if not the best tea. Still, nobody rushes you and it's quiet, a  great place to catch up with an old friend.

Afterwards, we found terrific sales on clothing and browsed in bookstores. The Harvard Book Store, featuring new and used books, has been there since my college days. Several other independent bookstores were long gone, sadly. The adorable Curious George store is all that’s left of the old WordsWorth. Tween/teen chapter books were in the basement along with some adult crossover fiction. I was pleased to spot Ellen Booraem’s Small Persons with Wings sparkling (silver glitter letters!) on a display shelf.

We ran out of time to do everything on our list, like making earrings at the Boston Bead Company, sipping hot chocolate at Burdick's or scoffing cupcakes at Sweet. Sure beats mud season in Maine.

Happiness Watch: The 2010 Gallup poll rated American congressional districts by national well-being, looking at indicators such as emotional status, work satisfaction, eating habits, illness, stress etc. The NYT reporting last Sunday, tracked down "America's Happiest Man" and shared a fascinating map of national happiness.

Theater Watch:

Al Miller at the Theater Project in Brunswick, Maine has adapted Shift by Charlotte Agell to the stage.  I'll be attending the opening on Friday night, March 11th. The play runs on weekends through March 20th. Charlotte has been advising this teen production based on her dystopian novel for young adults.

Lots of Shakespeare in NYC this spring.

Portland Waterfront & Eastern Prom

During our staycation, the kids and I visited Portland, a half an hour south on the coast. It’s the biggest city in Maine with only 64,000 people. The salted murky scent of the sea hung on the air.

Sarah Laurence by her daughter

Satori Salon on Fore Street was our first stop; it had been almost 6 months since my last haircut. Perhaps I’ve been a little too wrapped up in revising as u like it. I was able to step outside without a hat or even a coat. Can you believe this is February in Maine?

After a delicious Japanese lunch at Sapporo, we walked northeast on Commercial Street along the harbor. The busy road transitions to a waterfront path at the ferry station. Check out the windmill on board the tall ship.  I've been noticing nautical details since I created a maritime museum curator for as u like it. A visit to the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath last year provided inspiration. I love being able to track novel details like that.  My blog is a travel log of my works in progress.

The Eastern Promenade offered a spectacular view of the islands in Casco Bay. The water was a deep winter blue. You might remember the Eastern Prom from a research trip I took for NOT CRICKET. Even when I’m not writing, I’m sketching ideas in my head.

Normally the Eastern Prom would be white with snow. Every big storm that has hit the eastern seaboard since mid January has missed Maine. We usually ski over February break, but I have to admit that I  enjoyed a week of warm sunshine.  Snow mixed with rain is in the forecast today.

From the hilltop, you can watch the old Narrow Gauge trains pass. There is a railway museum too. The caboose had to be my last image. Vacation is over so I’m happily back to work on my latest novel.